More Google Chromebooks Coming, Advertising Could Help Lower Prices

Sundar Pichai of Google. Joanna Stern/ABC News(RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif.) — Google has dominated the smartphone market with its Android operating system, but it also has its Chrome OS operating system, which is built on its Chrome browser. The Chrome system, which was released last year to run on devices when they’re connected to the Internet, is based entirely around the browser and the Chrome apps that run in the browser.

Google has just released an update to its Chrome OS, and along with it a new $450 Samsung Series 5 Chromebook has been announced. There will be more laptops like it on the way, said Google Senior Vice President of Chrome & Apps, Sundar Pichai.

“Just like with Android, we’re in early stages of enabling an ecosystem. This year, we’re working very closely with Intel, and there are many OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] working with Chromebooks,” Pichai told ABC News at the All Things D conference in California.

In response to the complaint that the laptops have been unreasonably expensive for what you get, Pichai said that will also change. “You’ll start seeing Chromebooks spanning many price points. There are a variety of user scenarios; we picked the middle point to start at.”

When ABC News asked about the idea of using advertising to subsidize the cost of the laptops, much as Amazon does on its Kindle tablets and e-readers, Pichai said, “It’s not lost on us that we can use advertising to provide better value propositions as well.”